Albany's Congregation Beth El Jacob, formed by some members of the city's original Beth-El congregation, built this synagogue on Herkimer Street in the Pastures in 1907.

In the 1840s, a small Jewish congregation in Albany took a risk. With only 18 members, but anticipating future growth from immigration, Beth Jacob decided to build a synagogue.

When the doors first opened in 1848, the scene was extraordinary. The mayor, Judge Amasa J. Parker of the New York Supreme Court, “a great number” of Christian clergymen and other citizens joined together to witness the dedication. So many people wanted to attend that it was, in the words of one report, “totally impossible to gratify a fifth........

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